A cowbell echoes around the pool deck, joined by hoots and hollers from the stands. Fans are decked out in cardinal and gold, most wearing flip- flops. This is Southern California water polo, remember?

Spectators used their cheers to close out USC’s first homestand of the season on a high note — literally. The energy at Uytengsu Aquatic Center was electric — from the players in the pool to the fans in the stands, to even the commentator’s playlist.

From start to finish, No. 3 USC dominated in the pool against Whittier College, No. 9 UC Irvine and No. 4 Pepperdine. A Sunday afternoon SoCal showdown was the perfect way to end another undefeated weekend for the Trojans. For sophomore utility Stefan Brankovic, this home-opening weekend was also his first weekend playing at Uytengsu.

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“I was playing in Europe for five years,” Brankovic said. “It is a lot different because here you have nine months of preparation for the start of the season, and for nine months you’re thinking about that season.”

Brankovic played for the Serbian national team before shifting to collegiate play at USC. The sophomore has already earned gold and silver medals for Serbia at the Junior World Championships in 2019 and 2021. According to Brankovic, the energy across the pond is very different from the competition here in California, though. During a poolside interview with the Daily Trojan, at least three players patted the utility on the back in congratulations.

“You don’t have that feeling of burnout,” Brankovic said. “In Europe, that tends to happen because you don’t have any time for yourself [or] any time for rest like here … I prefer this [competition] because I have time for myself but I also have time to go all out in water polo.”

And go all out they did. The Trojans left it all in the pool this weekend, first securing wins against the Anteaters and the Poets on Saturday. The real challenge was a team from only a few miles up the Pacific Coast Highway: Pepperdine. The Waves defeated one of USC’s toughest matchups, UC Berkeley, 21-20 in a sudden death overtime period last weekend. Despite this foreboding SoCal contest, Head Coach Marko Pintaric did not let the pressure get to him.

“The mindset is always the same,” Pintaric said. “You prepare one game at a time, showing maximum respect to every team that we play.”

For the Trojans, this respect comes in the form of domination. USC took care of Irvine 15-11 and Whittier 21-9 on Saturday. During these matchups two Trojan captains — fifth-year 2-meter Max Miller and fifth-year driver Carson Kranz — both reached 100 career goals, an enormous achievement in the final years of their storied USC careers.

Sunday was a different ballgame against Pepperdine. Ranked only one slot below USC, the Waves posed a true threat to the Trojans undefeated record. However, with the crowd buzzing, USC came out on top.

“The weekend, in my book, was well executed and tough,” Pintaric said.

Pepperdine came out swinging, going goal for goal with USC in the first quarter of play. Offensively, though, the Trojans quickly pulled ahead of the Waves with the help of an eight-goal run in the second and third quarters, shutting out Pepperdine for the entire second quarter of play.

“I love to have this team who are very humble and very team-oriented,” Pintaric said. “They don’t play for their own stats, they like to set each other up. It was evident in today’s game, especially in that 8-0 run.”

After a Trojan ball rolled into the goal yet again at the end of the third quarter, Pepperdine’s goalie sunk his head under water in defeat. This was point number 12 for USC — a rough number for any goalie. The Waves were running out of steam.

“I think [the defense] was executed well,” Pintaric said. “Pepperdine is a well balanced team, and scored [20 goals] on Cal. To keep Pepperdine to seven, obviously we did something good on defense, and that starts with our goalie.”

On the other end of the pool, sophomore goalie Bernardo Herzer was still full of energy in the cage. Herzer tallied nine saves against Pepperdine and fed off the energy on the pool deck throughout the game.

“Having all the supporters here today, you can feel the ambiance,” Herzer said. “It amps us up more, and we get really excited to play for them.”

Herzer’s saves, including one against a Pepperdine penalty shot, helped ramp up the energy for the Trojans on both sides of the ball.

USC will try to keep this momentum going through more tough contests next weekend, when they will head to Berkeley, Calif., for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational on Sept. 20.

“You take it week by week,” said Herzer. “Find the little things within the weeks to fire yourself up, and at the end of each week take a day to reset and then get excited for the game that’s coming next weekend.”